UEFA EURO 2020 (2)

Marina Ahmad: How are you ensuring that the UEFA EURO 2020is accessible for all Londoners?

The Mayor: Football has an incredible power to bring people together and break down barriers. Following the year we have all endured, I wanted Londoners from all walks of life and backgrounds to share in the joy and excitement. My team worked hard across the project to ensure the event was accessible to Londoners as much as possible within the confines set by the current pandemic.
I was therefore delighted to open up a free family-orientated Football Village on Potters Fields Park and Fan Zone at Trafalgar Square. The Football Village was open throughout the tournament which meant Londoners from across the city could attend and enjoy the activities and atmosphere. The Fan Zone screened all matches that took place in London. It was important to me that tickets were free. In the early stages, tickets were offered to key workers who had helped London over the past tough 18 months. During the second half. The tickets were available via public ballot, ensuring everyone had the chance to apply to have a spot on the Square to watch the games.
My wider programme of EURO 2020 City Activations provided further opportunities to engage with the EUROs. This included the Trophy Tour which visited a number of community locations both within inner and outer London; and Inside Out, a photography art installation, which visited 5 locations, ensuring outer boroughs had the chance to take part.
My Host City Volunteering Programme recruited over 1,200 volunteers to get involved behind the scenes of the tournament and deliver a warm welcome to fans and visitors. Volunteering is a fantastic way for Londoners to get involved and play a key role in the delivery of major events in London. Ensuring accessibility to the programme was a priority ambition and our volunteer workforce is representative of Londoners with volunteers from all backgrounds and walks of life.

Annual Bus Usage

Tony Devenish: What was the annual bus usage for every year since 2012?

The Mayor: Annual bus usage for every year since 2011/12 is shown in the table below:
Year
Total passenger numbers
(millions)
2011/12
2,320
2012/13
2,311
2013/14
2,382
2014/15
2,385
2015/16
2,314
2016/17
2,262
2017/18
2,247
2018/19
2,220
2019/20
2,112
2020/21
887
The first Covid-19 lockdown started within the final period of 2019/20. 2020/21 data is incomplete due to middle door boarding on buses early in the pandemic. Data between late April and July 2020 is affected by this.
Statistics to 2019/20 can also be found in the Travel in London annual report here: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/travel-in-london-reports

Bus Driver safety

Leonie Cooper: Can the Mayor update me on the procedures to keep bus drivers and all the workers on our transport system safe as we come to the end of lockdown and more residents begin to use the services more frequently?

The Mayor: The safety of staff and customers has been my top priority, and the same is true of Transport for London (TfL). This why TfL and I have decided that face coverings will become a condition of carriage and so remain a requirement for travelling on the TfL network, unless a passenger is exempt, after 19 July.
Risk assessments have been carried out for all roles and activities where employees cannot work from home and, as far as possible, these roles have been made COVID-secure. This has involved a number of additional mitigation measures being put in place to protect staff and customers. In the small number of instances where it has not been possible to continue with tasks, alternative working methods have been developed.
An example of this has been the delivery of some elements of training remotely. Employees have also been offered individual COVID age risk assessments, and those at most risk have additional mitigations or alternative work to reduce their risk. TfL has also introduced five rapid testing sites for asymptomatic employees who need to attend work, and supported staff to receive vaccinations at the earliest opportunity, in partnership with NHS providers.
TfL and its bus operators continue to adhere to the latest Government guidelines such as promoting hands/face/space/fresh air, regular COVID testing, and enhancing ventilation inside vehicles. They have also responded to bespoke research commissioned from University College London on bus driver deaths and the more general work of UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering (CEGE) department, UCL’s project examining how to reduce the risk of virus transmission on London’s public transport vehicles (known as ‘Viral’) and TRACK (Transport Risk Assessment for COVID Knowledge) to ensure they remain at the forefront of these health and safety findings and mitigations.

UEFA EURO 2020 (1)

Marina Ahmad: How will hosting the UEFA EURO 2020support London’s economy?

The Mayor: Londoners have sacrificed so much during the pandemic and I hope that the UEFA EURO 2020 Championship can act as a real springboard for not only our economic recovery and to boost tourism - but also to drive forward grassroots sport participation to all Londoners to improve community cohesion and social integration.
London has long been a global leader for hosting major sports events. Latest research published by London & Partners shows that major sporting events like the EUROs and cultural events contribute over £600 million on average to the capital’s economy every year. And it is not just football that has this kind of impact. In 2019 the Major League Baseball Series came to London and sold out two games between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox creating an almost £37 million boost to London’s economy and a further £9.5 million to the national economy.

Mobile connectivity on London Underground trains

Krupesh Hirani: I welcome the Mayor’s commitment to rollout mobile connectivity on the London Underground network; currently available on sections of the Jubilee Line. What are the Mayor’s plans for wider rollout of mobile connectivity on all tube lines?

The Mayor: As you rightly say, uninterrupted 4G mobile coverage has already been introduced on the eastern half of the Jubilee line and this connectivity will be expanded in phases to ticket halls, platforms and tunnels on the wider Tube network over the next three years.
Transport for London (TfL) has recently awarded a 20-year concession to BAI Communications that will deliver a step change in connectivity across London, including mobile services across the Underground network.Work is already underway to bring connectivity to Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Euston, Bank and Camden Town stations and these are expected to go live by the end of 2022.TfL and BAI are working hard to ensure all other ticket halls, platforms and tunnels are on course to have 4G and 5G connected infrastructure and mobile coverage by the end of 2024.

TfL Engagement (2)

Elly Baker: How do disabled and older Londoners currently become involved in developing the Step-Free access program? What plans, if any, do you have to change that involvement in the future?

The Mayor: I am committed to ensuring Transport for London (TfL) continues to engage with groups representing older and disabled customers to help shape our most significant transport projects and policies and deliver a truly inclusive transport network. I have made it clear to TfL that communities and stakeholders need to be involved much earlier in the process of determining step-free stations and how these are prioritised.
TfL is working to bring forward an engagement programme which will seek to understand from the people who rely on step-free stations what the most important factors are in determining which stations to deliver next. This engagement will be delivered using TfL’s new Have your Say platform, in addition to a range of community and stakeholder conversations. Insights will also be gathered through TfL’s Accessibility Forum, which regularly brings together around 15 older and disabled people’s organisations, as well as TfL’s Independent Disability Advisory Group and their Valuing People group for people with learning difficulties.
Making London a more accessible place is a key priority for me and TfL. However, the ability of TfL to deliver longer-term investment projects such as the step-free programme depends on the Government providing TfL with a fair and sustainable long-term funding settlement.

CT convictions

Shaun Bailey: The Met has seen the conviction rate for Counter-Terrorismoffences fall from 83% to 81%, while only a small change, it is in the wrong direction – whatare the reasons behind this?

The Mayor: Between Q3 and Q4 for 2020/2021, the conviction rate for Counter Terrorism has gone up from 81% to 83%, indicating a higher proportion of successful convictions.
The Metropolitan Police Service do everything in their power to bring terrorist offenders to justice and to further increase conviction rates by working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service.
While it is necessary to examine the conviction rate and it is right to scrutinise any changes, we are cautious in determining insight from small fluctuations in the data, which (up or down) are to be expected on a quarterly and annual basis.